Have you ever contemplated the spiritual significance of the black background on the Vilnius Divine Mercy Image? The black symbolizes a life of sin, darkness, despair, and death. This contrasts with the luminous way in which Christ appears in white, symbolizing purity, cleanliness, light, hope, and Resurrected life.
By Br. Eliott, MIC
Happy Easter!
Have you ever contemplated the spiritual significance of the black background on the Vilnius Divine Mercy Image? The original Image portrays a great contrast between the colors of black and white to show forth the Resurrection of Christ.
The black background symbolizes a life of sin, darkness, despair, and death. This contrasts with the luminous way in which Christ appears in white, symbolizing purity, cleanliness, light, hope, and Resurrected life.
All one has to do is open to the very first page of St. Faustina’s Diary to find her hinting at this significance of white and black:
O Eternal Love, You command Your Sacred Image to be painted
And reveal to us the inconceivable fount of mercy,
You bless whoever approaches Your rays,
And a soul all black will turn into snow (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1).
Black and white
Did you catch that? Saint Faustina used an analogy to describe a filthy soul. She said a soul that is “black,” or unclean, “will turn into snow.” We know that snow is white!
In fact, St. Faustina uses this same analogy of white “snow” in reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has no sin at all. Saint Faustina referred to Mary as, “The Blessed Virgin, that Snow-White Lily” (Diary, 1746). Faustina also writes, “O soul, whoever you may be in this world, even if your sins were as black as night, Do not fear God, weak child that you are, For great is the power of God’s mercy” (Diary, 1652).
Black and white can also be symbolic of death and life, night and day. Many priests around the world wear black to represent that they have died with Christ and no longer live for themselves. (They are alive for and in Christ.) Saint Faustina’s religious congregation also wore a black veil and habit for the same reason. Christ says, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:10).
Did Faustina get the white snow analogy from Scripture, or was it an inspiration from the Holy Spirit? Scripture uses the same “snow” analogy in Isaiah 1:18: “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow … .” The clear contrast between black and white is evident in Faustina’s Diary and Sacred Scripture.
Feast of Mercy
Saint Faustina expresses that it is whoever approaches Christ’s rays on the Divine Mercy Image — so that He can bless them with “the inconceivable fount of mercy.” How powerful!
Our Lord said to Faustina, “I want this image …… to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary, 49). Christ wanted the Image to be blessed on Divine Mercy Sunday, because the Image reflects the Paschal Mystery. We read, “The Paschal Mystery of Jesus, which comprises his passion, death, resurrection, and glorification, stands at the center of the Christian faith because God's saving plan was accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of himself as Jesus Christ” (Compendium of the Catechism).
Divine Mercy Sunday (April 7 this year) is the Octave day, the eighth day of Christ’s Resurrection. (The Church celebrates the Paschal Mystery in the Triduum)
Prince of Peace
The content of the Image of Divine Mercy closely relates to the Liturgy of Divine Mercy Sunday. On Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church reads about the institution of the Sacrament of Penance when the Risen Christ appeared in the Upper Room (see Jn 20:19-29). The Image represents the Risen Savior who brings peace to His people.
The Image manifests this peace by drawing us to the Sacrament of Penance for the forgiveness of sins, the price He paid for us through His Passion and death on the Cross. The rays representing the blood and water that flowed from Christ’s pierced Heart and the scars caused by the wounds of crucifixion call to mind the events of Good Friday (see Jn 19:17-18; 33-37).
The Divine Mercy Image thus combines both Christ’s death and Resurrection. The Image represents the fullness of God’s love for mankind, the entire Paschal Mystery!
May we venerate this special Image to receive the graces promised with it (see Diary, 742), and so be raised with Christ on the last day.
Jesus, I trust in You!
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